Despite her efforts to avoid it, Shomi ended up tardy for her first period. She certainly thanked her teacher's quirky attitude, as she seemed to wave off Shiomi's delay, muttering something about her being a good student.

As she took her seat, Shiomi tried intensely to pay attention to her teacher's lecture. She knew it was first period, but she wasn't positive as to which subject the teacher was referring. All Shiomi could mentally consider was seeing Hisagi later in the day.

She wasn't quite certain what drew her to him so profusely. He was attractive, but not openly so. He was respectful, but rough around the edges. He was strong, but not invulnerable, even though Shiomi had yet to think of someone or something he couldn't defeat. She constantly weighed Hisagi's attributes, a positive one paired with a negative one. As she continued this process, however, she gradually ran out of hindrances and resumed mentally listing what she liked about him.

Hisagi's voice, Hisagi's eyes, Hisagi's face, Hisagi's biceps...

Unfortunately, Shiomi was so consumed by her mental list-making that she didn't even notice her teacher calling her name until she raised her volume.

"TANAKA!" Shiomi's teacher shouted, startling the brunette out of her seat. She didn't seem to pay much mind to it, however, as a chorus of hushed giggles swept the classroom. "Are you listening?"

Shiomi proceeded to rub her bottom as she took her seat, then honestly replied, "No, ma'am..."

The teacher looked even angrier than she had before she shouted Shiomi's name. "Like I've been telling you for the past five minutes, you'll be working with Kurosaki."

Shiomi blinked. "Uh, right."

Her teacher stared at her, then proceeded to ask, "Do you know the assignment?"

Shiomi blushed and looked down. "Um..."

The teacher turned around and walked to the front of the class, then shouted, "Okay! Sorry for assigning you the day-dreamer, Kurosaki! Looks like you'll be doing all the work!" Apparent, her teacher's eccentricity could also be an encumbrance.

Shiomi could hear some parts of the class giggling, and could feel several pairs of eyes staring at her. She couldn't confirm either of these hypotheses, however, as she had buried her head into her crossed arms atop her desk in humilitation. What was Hisagi doing to her?

Following her classroom debacle, Shiomi truly tried her hardest to stay focused; however, as soon as the class broke up into pairs to complete the assingnment, she returned to her own Hisagi-filled world. She felt so incredibly lost in it that she couldn't even remember how to spell her name.

Shiomi was only pulled from her reverie when the orange-haired student opposite her stated, "I got zero for number one. What'd you get?"

Shiomi looked at her textbook, then her blank piece of paper. Flustered, she quickly replied, "Um, yeah! That's what I got..."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow to her reply, then casually looked at her work, or lack thereof. He didn't seem to pay much attention to it, however, as he continued on to the next problem. Shiomi felt very lucky that the partner she had been assigned was so easygoing, in terms of schoolwork.

Feeling a sigh of relief, Shiomi picked up her pencil in an effort to attempt this work. She found it very difficult, as she continually felt the instinct to write Hisagi all over her paper like a lovesick schoolgirl. It was only after this point that Shiomi realized that was probably all she was to Hisagi-a kid with a crush. He lived this extraordinary life, and she wasn't even a part of it. She could only imagine how many women he had-

"What'd you get for number two?" Ichigo interrupted, looking up at Shiomi.

Shiomi looked down at her paper, then noticed that during her preoccupation, she had actually written Hisagi's name on her paper. She gasped, then cautiously began to reply, "U-um... I-"

Ichigo interrupted her once again, however, only to take her paper. "Here, let me see."

"N-no!" Shiomi yelled, the volume of her voice not noticeably loud. She reached for her paper, then covered her eyes as she saw Ichigo pull it further away from her to read it. She could only imagine how he would laugh at her... then probably pass it on to Keigo and Mizuiro... after which, the contents of her paper would be spread to the whole school.

Shiomi could barely hear Ichigo's voice above her own nightmares, but she could faintly discern the name, "Hisagi?"

She spread her fingers apart to peek through them at Ichigo. "You mean Hisagi Shuuhei?" he asked.

Shiomi dropped her hands from her face altogether. "You know him?" she exclaimed, her voice much louder than she had intended.

"Tanaka!" her teacher shouted, suddenly right next to the pair of desks. Shiomi considered it pretty reasonable that after several loud exclamations the teacher would approach them. "Where's your work?"

Shiomi blinked and looked down. There was no way she could give her teacher her blank paper.

"Here," Ichigo said, handing the teacher his work. "We worked together on one sheet."

The teacher grabbed the paper and sent Shiomi one last look over her shoulder before leaving. Shiomi let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," she whispered, too nervous to speak loudly.

Ichigo ignored it, however, and returned to the conversation topic he initiated. "How do you know Shuuhei?"

Shiomi almost felt like she should have been the one asking Ichigo that. He wasn't exactly low-key, but she wouldn't expect him to know Hisagi. Regardless of how Ichigo learned of him, Shiomi repeated the details of her encounter with Hisagi, all the way through this morning.

Ichigo placed his head in his chin in thought, looking down. "That's weird."

Shiomi knew that her story was unusual, but his reply was fairly cryptic. "Which part?"

Ichigo looked up towards the celing and muttered, "I didn't know that you lived in Naruki."

Shiomi looked shocked. "That's what you got out of it?"

Ichigo sighed and placed his hands on his desk, pushing his chair out. "Sorry. I guess I'm used to hearing stuff like this."

Although slightly surprised by his response, Shiomi didn't feel incredibly so. She had discovered that Ichigo was naturally a relatively laidback person if unbothered, and his response upheld this nature.

Ichigo looked at Shiomi and asked, "So, where's the note?"

Shiomi furrowed her brow in confusion.

"You said Shuuhei told you to go to a place after school, and that I could take you there," he clarified.

Shiomi's look of confusion faded as she rummaged through the pocket of her sweater. She pulled out a small crumpled scrap of paper and handed it to Ichigo, a look of frustration overcoming his features as he read it.

"That's good," Ichigo commented, extending his arms across his desk. "I needed to ask Urahara something, anyway."

It was once again Shiomi's turn to look confused. She felt as though this wasn't a very productive conversation, considering she couldn't follow a word of it.

"Whatever," Ichigo stated, stuffing the paper into his pocket. "I can take you there."

Shiomi looked surprised, then smiled. "Thank you!"

Ichigo muttered a "yeah" in reply, then turned around to converse with his tall dark-skinned classmate. Shiomi didn't pay much attention to Ichigo after that, however, as she could only think of seeing Hisagi.

It had been a fairly boring school day, especially since the only activity Shiomi had to look forward to was meeting up with Hisagi. After dismissal, she was able to rejoin Ichigo, only to notice that he was grouped with Sado Yasutora and Inoue Orihime, two of who Shiomi considered to be his friends. She had noticed them walking together on several occasions, which was to be expected when they spent so much time together. She chose not to question these additions, however, and proceded to follow Ichigo.

"So Tanaka-san," Orihime began, her voice light and airy, "how did you meet Shuuhei-san?"

Shiomi looked down, wondering whether or not it would be appropriate to explain their encounter once again. Ichigo, however, seemed to sense Shiomi's nervousness and interjected.

"Shuuhei got assigned to Naruki, and when Shiomi got attacked by a hollow, he saved her."

Orihime looked up and put her index finger to her chin. "Oh! So he's your knight in shining armor!"

Shiomi's cheeks reddened as she turned towards Orihime, putting her hands up in negation. "N-no! That's not..."

Ichigo turned around as he walked, sending a smirk to Shiomi. "That explains why his name was on your classwork, right?"

Shiomi's mouth opened as she flushed more profusely than before. She had realized that it would be pointless to argue with this group. Ichigo had damning evidence, Orihime didn't seem to have a clue as to what she had insinuated with her statement, and Sado hardly appeared to be following the conversation at all.

Shiomi sighed as Ichigo faced the front once more. She hadn't even realized that she had made her affection for Hisagi so blatant that someone like Orihime, whose instincts concerning romantic relationships were about as developed as a three-year-old, would be able to point it out. Orihime's statement did make sense, however. Perhaps Shiomi's attachment to Hisagi was due to the fact that he had saved her life. She had never previously had a near death experience, and from what she could tell, they were not at all pleasant. So, by sparing her of this treachery, Shiomi may have gained feelings for her, as Orihime described, "knight in shining armor."

If this was indeed the cause of Shiomi's affection towards Hisagi, she would feel relieved-after all, her emotions could then qualify as a temporary crush. And that's all that this would turn out to be.

Shiomi didn't even realize that as these thoughts crossed her mind, the group had reached their destination. She wasn't very impressed with the small store in front of her, but the large blue sign reading "Urahara Shop" indicated that this was indeed the correct location. Shiomi somewhat wondered if she would have to return here. If so, she really felt that she should have paid more attention to Ichigo's path here.

After briefly being able to observe the exterior of the shop, Shiomi followed Ichigo, Sado, and Orihime, who had already begun to walk towards the entrance. Once Ichigo reached the door, he seemed to lose all sense of manners, as he roughly kicked it open, then shouted for the namesake of the store.

"Urahara!" Ichigo shouted, calling the attention of a small redheaded boy and a quiet looking girl with black hair.

"He's with a customer, carrot-top. You've gotta wait for him to finish," the boy rudely declared to Ichigo.

Shiomi could tell that an argument would insue following his "carrot-top" remark, but she didn't pay much mind to it, as she inspected the wares on the shelves. After blocking out the ruckus of Ichigo and the other boy, Shiomi could discern two male voices conversing in the next room over. She placed her ear towards the door in an attempt to be able to clearly determine what the topic of conversation was; however, she wasn't able to hear very much, as the door slid open and her head crashed straight onto someone's very toned chest.

Shiomi quickly pulled away and rubbed her head, then heard the person before her say, "Ah, so you found Kurosaki?"

Although she had only heard that voice a few times in the past thirty-six hours, Shiomi recognized it immediately. She stood up and guiltily looked up towards Hisagi. "Ah! U-um... sorry for eavesdropping..."

"Eavesdropping?" Hisagi repeated. "Is that what you were trying to do?"

Shiomi didn't have time to utter a flustered reply, as an older blonde man appeared from behind Hisagi, wearing a striped hat and wooden sandals. The man smiled at Shiomi and took her hand. "Ah, you must be Tanaka-san! It's a pleasure to meet you~!"

Shiomi blinked to demonstrate her lack of understanding in the situation.

"I'm the humble owner of this shop," the man continued, releasing Shiomi's hand and walking past her and Hisagi towards Ichigo, who was still shouting at the redhead.

Ichigo seemed to notice the man's presence, and concluded his quarrel with the younger boy only to resume yelling at a different target. Shiomi had never seen this side of Ichigo, and she didn't much care for it.

"What are you doing right now?" Hisagi asked, pulling Shiomi's attention away from Ichigo's shouting.

Shiomi looked at Hisagi, and, distracted by his demeanor, lied. "Nothing... why?"

Hisagi looked over towards the storeowner. "There's something I need you to do."

Shiomi followed Hisagi's gaze, which seemed to also catch the attention of Orihime and Sado, but escaped the notice of Ichigo.

"Ah!" Orihime exclaimed, immediately waving. "Hello, Shuuhei-san!"

"Hey..." Shuuhei acknowledged, then sent a curt nod in Sado's direction. Shiomi could tell that he didn't seem too comfortable around them, allowing her to assume that he may not have known Orihime and Sado as well as he knew Ichigo or the storeowner.

At this revelation, Shiomi's attention was drawn back towards Ichigo's shouting, which she couldn't follow a word of; however, as soon as the young redheaded boy joined in to the argument, some snippets and insults became clearer.

As Ichigo pushed the redhead away from him, he shouted, "Why don't you go play outside like kids should? Go kick around your soccer ball or something!"

Orihime seemed to remember something after Ichigo's harsh suggestion, and exclaimed, "Ah! Tanaka-san's an excellent soccer player! She could play with you!"

At this announcement, Shiomi instantly recalled that today was Tuesday-and she was thirty minutes late for practice.

She gasped after checking the clock on the wall, then bolted out the door, shouting apologies as she left.

Urahara stared after the brunette who just left his shop, his mouth and facial expression obscured by the fan in his hand. Impartially, he stated, "She's a weird girl, isn't she?"

Hisagi smirked, admiring Shiomi's departing form. "Yeah," he replied, "she is."